March 24, 2009

OneSource Buys Berkley Engineering

Finance, Free, Mergers & Acquisitions, News, Subscriber Only, Top Distributor Sectors / MDM Staff

OneSource Distributors, Oceanside, CA, has acquired Berkley Engineering, Inc., Honolulu, HI. Berkley is a supplier of pumping-related products for the municipal water/wastewater industry and industrial and institutional markets.

Berkley Engineering is a good fit for both of our companies and our major suppliers. We are a Rockwell Automation/Allen-Bradley distributor in a number of territories and look forward to growing market share for them as well as all of our key suppliers in the Industrial, Infrastructure, Institutional and Utility markets in Hawaii and in the American territories, Bob Zamarripa, president of OneSource, says.

OneSource Distributors operates 12 sales centers and four distribution centers servicing California, Arizona, …

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Bunzl Acquires Two UK Distributors

Companies, Finance, Free, Mergers & Acquisitions, News, Subscriber Only / MDM Staff

Global distributor Bunzl plc has acquired W.K. Thomas and Industrial Supplies from W.K. Thomas & Co Limited, and Industrial Supplies UK Limited.

W.K. Thomas is a distributor in the UK of foodservice products, particularly to customers in the catering and airline sectors. Industrial Supplies is engaged in the distribution of cleaning and hygiene products throughout the East of England. The aggregate revenue of the businesses in the year ended Dec. 31, 2008 was about £35 million.

These businesses complement our existing horeca and cleaning & hygiene operations in the UK. This transaction demonstrates our ability to take advantage of appropriate opportunities as they arise in what is a particularly tough environment in the UK & …

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New Orders for Durable Goods Go Up in February

Economic Trends, Free, News, Research & Analytics, Subscriber Only / MDM Staff

New orders for manufactured durable goods in February increased $5.5 billion or 3.4% to $165.6 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced in the advance report on Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories and Orders. This increase follows six consecutive monthly decreases, including a 7.3% January decrease. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 3.9%. Excluding defense, new orders increased 1.7%.

Cliff Waldman, economist for the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, said that the "welcome turn in big ticket demand" should be "interpreted with caution," though he does point out that it may indicate that the U.S. is close to or at the bottom of the business cycle.

"The modest signs of stability in the U.S. economy are early and could be …

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Economic Indexes Continue Downward Trend

Economic Trends, Free, Research & Analytics, Subscriber Only / Jenel Stelton-Holtmeier

Economic indicators continued their downward trend in February, according to The Conference Board and Statistics Canada.

In the U.S., all three indicators from The Conference Board – the Leading Economic Index, Coincident Economic Index and the Lagging Economic index – declined by 0.4% for the month. The LEI has fallen 2.1% in the past six months; the CEI has dropped 3.1%.

Canada’s February composite leading index fell 1.1% after a 0.9 percent decrease in January, with 9 of the 10 components declining. The housing and stock markets continued to post the largest declines, while losses in manufacturing steepened as the auto industry began to implement extensive shutdowns at the turn of the year. New orders in …

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Execs: Right Leadership, Training Key to Retaining the Right People

Human Resources in Wholesale Distribution, Management, Operations, Strategy, Subscriber Only / Lindsay Young

Two recent MDM interviews offered some perspective on retaining quality employees.

Graybar Senior Vice President and CFO Beatty D’Alessandro told me (at the recent NAW meeting in January) that the company keeps its focus on drawing employees who take a long-term view. He says finding the right people with the right values is crucial from the get-go, but that providing the right training and the right opportunities are just as important in keeping the right people in place. He says: "The model is built around people who are going to come and stay versus people who job-hop around the industry."

In the latest issue of MDM, Grainger’s new president of international businesses, Court Carruthers, says that nurturing employee development is a passion of his. A …

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